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San Francisco Mayor Is Seeking State’s No. 2 Job

SAN FRANCISCO — Declaring his candidacy for a job whose very power he questioned, Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco said Friday that he was running for lieutenant governor of California.

The announcement, which had been rumored for weeks, came a little more than four months after Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, dropped out of the race for governor in the face of sagging fund-raising and the expected candidacy of Jerry Brown, the state’s attorney general. Mr. Brown formally announced his candidacy last week in what is expected to be a bruising and expensive battle for the state’s top job.

For the less glamorous No. 2 position, Mr. Newsom said in a statement that he had initially been unsure as to whether the lieutenant governor’s office was “the right place to lead a reform movement that has the power to shake up Sacramento.” But, he said, he had been increasingly intrigued by “the broad, informal portfolio” of the position.

“Big, bold ideas are the currency of this job, and I plan on bringing many to the table,” he said.

Mr. Newsom’s chief opponent in the primary in June will be City Councilwoman Janice Hahn of Los Angeles, who issued a short statement Friday, citing a column in The San Francisco Chronicle suggesting that Mr. Newsom was becoming a career politician in the mold of former Gov. Gray Davis, who was recalled in 2003.

There are signs that Mr. Newsom would be a formidable candidate. He has the backing of several major California politicians, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi of the United States House, who is a distant relative. Another declared Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor — State Senator Dean Florez, the majority leader — dropped out of the race on Friday and threw his support behind Mr. Newsom.

Photo

Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco on March 3.Credit
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

“As the African proverb says,” Mr. Florez wrote in a letter to supporters, “When the music changes, so must the dance.”

Mr. Newsom, 42, has been a focus of national attention since 2004, when he ordered the city clerk in San Francisco to begin performing same-sex marriages at City Hall. That order, which was later stopped by judicial order, has led to protracted legal battles in the state over same-sex marriage, including a federal court challenge to Proposition 8, which bans such unions and was passed by California voters in 2008.

Still popular in San Francisco — he was easily re-elected in 2007 — Mr. Newsom had been coy about his intentions after abandoning his bid for governor. In January, he told the New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd that he would likely be working as “the clerk of a wine store” soon. Mr. Newsom, who made a tidy fortune in the wine and restaurant business, said later that he had been joking.

Considered a graceful and charismatic speaker, Mr. Newsom has struggled with personal issues, including his admission in 2007 of a drinking problem after revelations of an affair with his campaign manager’s wife. He sought treatment.

In 2008, he married Jennifer Siebel, an actress, who gave birth to the couple’s first child — a daughter, Montana — last fall. He cited strains on his family life as a reason for abandoning his campaign for governor.

In an interview, Mr. Newsom said that the lieutenant governor’s office — which carries with it appointments to several statewide bodies, including the University of California Board of Regents — would allow him to concentrate on education, the environment and the economy.

And while his earlier run for statewide office landed with a thud, he said he was in a better place — personally and professionally — to run. He has gotten the hang of fatherhood, he said, and he has a plan to close the city’s $522 million deficit. He has also learned from his last bid.

“I know what we did wrong in the governor’s race, and we know what we did right,” he said. “And we’re going to build on that.”

A version of this article appears in print on March 13, 2010, on page A13 of the New York edition with the headline: San Francisco Mayor Is Seeking State’s No. 2 Job. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe